It’s a cautionary tale, not one of pessimism.
Toronto band Inlet Sound’s latest album is all about the power of experience.
While I was speaking with keyboardist Sean Hardy, he revealed that the band’s essence is the loss of youthful perspectives.
Hardy said this realization came when he and his friend Michael Wexler first started the band in 2009.
“Mike and I, who founded the band, lived together in a crappy apartment in Toronto two summers ago. Mike had just finished undergrad and I was going back for another year, and we felt the chasm of the future stretching out in front of us,” Hardy said.
The inspiration for their newest album The Romantics came from the duo’s experiences with anxiety for the future, Hardy said.
“It’s a contrast between the idealism that we carried with us going into university and the reality. That is probably one of the biggest things that you’ll find in The Romantics,” he said. The band’s latest album, released in October, is a convincing expression of those sentiments.
According to Hardy, the band’s message of expectations being wrong isn’t just relevant to the band members.
“One thing that applies to almost our entire generation is the notion of being able to go forth and prosper and live long, productive and relatively stable lives without much incident,” he said. “That, for us, is something that we’ve come to terms with — maybe the world isn’t as accommodating as we first thought.”
In the case of The Romantics, Hardy said he especially feels these notions have set the tone for the band’s latest sound.
“Things that would really bring out the feelings we were trying to transmit in the songs. That’s how the harder edge came out.”
Inlet Sound isn’t trying to discourage their listeners, just give them a warning.
“I say that as if it’s some kind of bummer, but it’s not about coming away from experiences with a darker view, but a more accepting, resigned view of things,” Hardy said.
Using their own experiences to influence their music, the band has a message with each of their songs.
“The world won’t give us things as easily. There’s more work to do and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe the world is a more complex creature, and you move ahead appreciating that.”
Inlet Sound plays The Grad Club next Friday. Doors open at 9 p.m.
Tags
Inlet Sound, Interview, Sean Hardy
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